A Book • CD of Children's World Music • Global Community

A magical new adventure for the children of our times

Creating the CD

Songs from Nandita’s Dream by Sarah Patterson

A CD of new children’s world music

“What makes “Songs from Nandita’s Dream” unique is the generous creativity of these singers and musicians from around the globe. The atmosphere in recordings was fantastic. And there’s the enthusiasm and lovely voices of the children.” Sarah Patterson.

“Beautiful music. It’s amazing to be part of this album.” Tomeki Dube, Black Umfolosi
“One of the best things I’ve ever done in my life.” Melody, age 10. “My favourite song is Inside My Heart.”

“Toes. Amazwane in Zulu. Oh I love this song. Jazzy, blues…It fits very well with our style of singing from Southern Africa. You’ll hear us doing a bit of ululating. These calls characterise our daily life in Africa…they signify good feeling. It’s something we do when partying or just having fun. We thought this track deserved to be accompanied by such noises!” Sotcha Moyo, Black Umfolosi

“My favourite song is “Love’s Vibration” because we’re all on it.” Rose age 11Sura Susso says, “My Mama Told Me. The words are powerful and I really enjoyed playing kora on it. Playing on this beautiful album is like a privilege to me…to play with great musicians together.”
“The People Song. What I like most is it makes you feel at home.” “And it says we are all human, we are all important, we are all special people and together we make this world a better place.” BU.

Add to this a traditional Bengali Lullaby arranged and sung exquisitely by Sheema Mukherjee and you get a sense of the range and depth of the album. Sheema and Nandita’s mother in the book share the same name – one of the universe’s lovely synchronicities. Sheema means “infinite potential” in Sanskrit.
“I wanted the CD to tell the whole story of “Nandita’s Dream” musically,” says Sarah Patterson. “So that each is amazing in its’ own right and together they’re a powerful combination. And with the help of all these gifted musicians it’s been possible.”
“Sarah is so talented in her creativity.” Sotcha Moyo

photos by Alice Carfrae, Melanie Eclare, Sarah Patterson

The album Songs from Nanditaʼs Dream is an exhilarating fusion of Western and world music featuring Black Umfolosi, Sheema Mukherjee, Sura Susso, Tommy Blaize and other gifted musicians. Many children are singing with them as the Rainbow Children’s Choir. The songs tell the story of Nanditaʼs adventures and interweave with the story to create a multilayered, multitextured experience.

Julian Marshall contributed to arrangements and production on some of the songs and added his wonderful keyboards.
The range of Julian’s musical ability is vast. His modern classical works are The Angel in the Forest and Out of the Darkness and he also co-wrote the pop classic ‘Dancing in the City’.www.londonsongcompany.com/team

Volker Kaczinski has been part of the project from the beginning. He is the sound engineer at the Music Pool sound studio in Germany and is a musician with many albums to his name. His recordings on this album and consistent loving support of the project have been invaluable. www.volker-kaczinski.net

Philip Bagenal of Eastcote Studios in London is a passionate mixing engineer who took this project to his heart and has done wonderful work blending the album into a whole. www.eastcotestudios.co.uk

Simon Heyworth and Andy Miles are the mastering engineers who meticulously brought out the depth of field and richness in the material and prepared it for uploading and album release. www.superaudiomastering.com

Lawrence Kelson contributes percussion to the album and website.
He’s providing inspiration, drumming and recording on Joe’s drumming page under Making Music. www.madrum.com

Rick Stokes and Peter Bernard gave us lyrical, playful guitars.

Paul Armfield gave us great double bass and guitar. You can find out more about his work (and the fabulous Four Good Reasons) at www.paularmfield.com

Drum and Rob Waite of Humdrum studio Rob is a gifted sound engineer who has contributed both engineering and guitars on some tracks. Drum has similarly recorded for both the album and the website and is beloved by the children.

your dreams

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Khadijah Alhassan, Tamale tribe Northern Ghana, age 9

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Ato Inkumsah, Ahanta tribe Western Ghana, age 9

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Sarah's Blog

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Nandita’s Dream Workshops for children and adults?

Here’s Sura Susso, the brilliant kora player on Nandita’s Dream CD. He also supported me leading a workshop. Continue reading →